Conventionally, such works are purchased as boxed media (e.g. a tape, a Compact Disc (CD) or a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) carrying the work recorded on them, over the counter of a shop, or by post from a catalogue supplier. Much music is sold through specialist music shops, with knowledgeable counter staff to assist in selection and purchase, although large supermarkets or department stores may carry a limited range of more popular works. Historically, much the same pattern has developed for videos and computer games, which are stocked by specialist music shops and by smaller numbers of specialist game and/or video shops, as well as (in limited range) in large supermarkets or department stores.
Specialist music shops sometimes have listening booths, operating somewhat like a jukebox, where a prospective customer can select and hear part of a work to determine whether or not to purchase it. For other advice, such as on availability of new works by particular artists, or on suitable works for purchase for a gift, the advice of the specialist shop staff is sought. Non-specialist shops, of course, lack either of these facilities.
Recently, Internet “shops” such as Amazon (URL www.amazon.com) and Books Online (URL www.bol.com) have made a business of selling books and, more recently, musical works via the Internet, charging by credit card. In some cases, the prospective purchaser can download and play a clip of the work to be purchased. However, at present, this channel is available only to the technically literate, in possession of a multimedia personal computer and appropriate software. Concerns are also expressed about the security of credit card transactions over the Internet, where data may be intercepted by fraudsters. Whatever the real level of risk involved, the threat of fraud can at present deter customers.
European patent application EP 0649 121 desribes a booth or kiosk type system located at retail premises and connected to a number of content servers for downloading content in real-time. The content servers are arranged hierarchically so that distributed local servers predominantly store currently popular content and central servers store a more complete content list. Thus, network load is reduced while still making available a comprehensive catalogue of items. The kiosks/booths are connected to customer accounting and sale systems, but not to any in-store stock system. Items for purchase are locally recorded onto physical media (eg. burnt onto a CD) rather than being ordered or bought from in-store stock.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,237,157 describes a kiosk-based system placed in a retail outlet for providing a potential buyer with “preview” music samples from CDs. The music samples are stored in a compressed format on a number of CD ROM discs in a multi-disc loader system. The user obtains a subscription card (by filling out an application form) and selects a CD box from the store display. The kiosk scans the user's subscription card and the CD and identifies the user and CD. A graphical user interface of the kiosk presents a relevant photograph for the CD and a series of touchscreen buttons for various songs on the CD. The user selects a song for previewing by touching one of the buttons. The patent also describes a central server connected to each kiosk over a telecommunications link for collecting data concerning use of the kiosk. Data collected may be used as a marketing tool. Further, the patent also describes playing a CD sampler on the stores sound system so that a customer can become interested in a track, ask the sales assistants for details and use the kiosk to find out more.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,963,916 takes the kiosk system, located at retail premises, of the previously described patent and describes some improvements. The major development is that the kiosks are now dumb web clients and receive both the “preview” music samples (as an audio stream) and the user interface (ie. HTML pages) over a telecommunications link from a centralised Web server. Also, the customer is now able to place an order for purchasing CDs using a shopping basket concept on the kiosk. The system is also described as being suitable for home computer use.